ENMU Athletics News

By Adam Pitterman

A Historic Season for Women’s Basketball

The Greyhound women’s basketball team concluded a season for the ages. With a 20-9 record, the squad not only notched its first winning season since 2006-07, but also won its first Lone Star Conference title and reached the NCAA Tournament as conference “co-champions” for the first time in program history.

Junior Jasmine Hotchkins shoots a freethrow.

Photo by Bill Sabo

The Hounds picked up their first road win over West Texas A&M in December, and it was clear that the program was in the midst of something special. That point was proven later with a 76-72 overtime road victory over regional finalist Angelo State.

Coach Josh Prock speaks with the women’s basketball team during the regional championship.

Photo by Bill Sabo

With a team-record 16 LSC wins, Eastern shared the league title with Angelo State and earned the top seed in the conference tournament. Just days later, the Hounds gathered in Greyhound Arena for the NCAA selection show and were informed they had received the sixth seed for the South Central Championships. Sophomore Dasia Johnson collected a career-best 18 points in the opening round game against University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, as the Hounds concluded the third 20-win season in program history. Junior Mikaehla Connor was named First Team All-LSC, LSC All-Defensive Team, and LSC All-Academic. Senior Kassandra Harris notched Second Team All-LSC honors, while junior Daeshi McCants made third team. Head Coach Josh Prock was chosen as the league’s Coach of the Year.

Football Coach Josh Lynn Steps Down, ENMU Welcomes Kelley Lee as Head Coach

ENMU Athletic Director Dr. Greg Waggoner announced in January that Josh Lynn (MS 07, BS 03) would be moving on from his position as head football coach to build a winning program at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Lynn helped turn the ENMU football program around in his brief tenure, posting 27 wins since taking over in 2012. He led the Greyhounds to a 7-3 record in 2013, the school’s first winning record in nearly a decade, as well as the Lone Star Conference Championship that same season.

Stepping in as the University’s 16th head coach is Kelley Lee (MS 03), who has served as the team’s assistant head coach and offensive coordinator since the 2012 season. “Lee has been key in academic oversight of the program for several years, which has resulted in high achievements by the ENMU players,” said Dr. Waggoner. “Kelley’s offenses have produced some of the best results in the NCAA Division II for the last several years and we are confident the program is in good hands moving forward.”

Gryschka Earns All-America Status as Indoor Track and Field Season Wraps

The ENMU Track and Field team’s Melina Gryschka produced an eighth-place finish in the mile and a 12thplace finish in the 3K to wrap up the Hounds showing at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Gryschka is the first female athlete for the Green and Silver to compete in the finals at the championships.The Garbsen, Germany native ran the mile with a time of 4:47.25 and 9:45.36 in the 3K.

Photo by Times Remembered Photography

In earlier races at the event, senior Klaudia Szych ran down a 10th-place finish in the 800 with a time of 2:10.85 while Omer Almog claimed a 14th-place finish in the mile with a time of 4:17.19. Marcus Parker, a native of Phoenix, Ariz., finished second in the first heat with a time of 21.59 and was the only freshman in the 200M to compete at the championships, finishing in 10th-place overall.

Men’s Basketball Closes Strong

After the men’s basketball team earned two wins in their first 12 Lone Star Conference games, few outside the team’s locker room expected them to contend for a spot in the league tournament. The Greyhounds disagreed and rallied around each other with a fourgame win streak, which included the first road win over Midwestern State since 2007, and the first road win over Cameron since 2004. The Hounds also earned a critical victory over West Texas A&M.

The win streak put Eastern right back into the hotlycontested race for a playoff spot in Allen, Texas. Standing in their way was Texas A&M-Kingsville, a team that also enjoyed a successful second half of the season. The teams engaged in a wild game with 11 lead changes. ENMU narrowly missed qualifying for the tournament when a potential game-winning shot missed with two seconds left on the clock. The team showed great improvement over the course of the season and was edged from a tournament spot by a Javelina team, which upset LSC Champion University of Texas of the Permian Basin in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

For their efforts, juniors Lamarquis Thompson and Joe Clarke earned Honorable Mention All-LSC.

Softball Team Off to a Strong Start

With a number of new faces in the lineup, the ENMU softball team is off to a good start. While it is only April as this story goes to print, the team has already surpassed season’s won total, which includes a perfect 7-0 record against in-state rivals Western New Mexico and New Mexico Highlands. Erikka Burke is leading the lineup with a .362 batting average, 12 homers, 22 walks and 35 runs batted in. Five regular starters are batting .300 or better. The team currently boasts the third-best on-base percentage in team history.

The softball team celebrates their win against Tarleton.

Photo by Claude Vigil

Freshman pitcher Kaylee Rogers has compiled 12 wins, a 4.18 earned run average and a team-best 72 strikeouts over 145.2 innings of work. Kiana Zerr returned from last year and has a pair of wins.

Baseball Also Off to a Big Start

The ENMU baseball team is off to its best start ever. What started with a 14-1 record in February, followed with wins over top 10 teams such as Angelo State and West Texas A&M. The Hounds look to be much improved from last season. In Eastern’s win over fourth-ranked Angelo State, they scored 12 runs on 13 hits. The Hounds nearly won two other games against the Rams, falling by two runs in each of those games.

The baseball team takes a moment to pray before one of their games this season.

Photo by Paul Tapia

Alex De La Cruz leads the Greyhound lineup with a .445 batting average, four homers and 27 runs batted in. Michael McNicholl has already driven in 45 runs. The Greyhound lineup features three hitters with batting averages of at least .380. Keenan Dodd leads the pitchers with a 4-1 record and 1.74 earned run average. Scott Klein also has four wins.